JOHN THOMAS KEYS

On January 12, 1944, in the dusk of the evening twilight, the Death Angel called at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Troy E. Counts and gently touched a suffering loved one, Mr. John T. Keys, father of Mrs. Counts and one of the oldest residents at Brentsville, Va.

Mr. Keys was born June 10, 1863, in Alexandria, Va., but had spent the most of his life in Brentsville, the eldest child of the late Robert and Margaret Cornwell Keys.

On February 28, 1888, he was married to Miss Susannah Catherine Patton of Nokesville, Virginia, and to this union were born nine children: Herbert F. of Independent Hill, Va., W. W. Keys, J. C. Keys, C. T. Keys and Mrs. Troy E. Counts of Brentsville, Va., three having died in infancy, and the late J. W. Keys, veteran of World War I, who died at Roanoke, Va., in 1925.

Mr. Keys moved to his own home in Brentsville in 1888 with his bride of a few weeks, and on February 28, 1938, they celebrated their golden wedding there and continued there until after Mrs. Keys' death in 1940, when he moved to his daughter's, Mrs. Troy E. Counts.

Surviving Mr. Keys are two brothers, Mr. J. M. Keys and Mr. L. F. Keys of Brentsville, and one sister, Mrs. John Weeks of Fairfax Court House, Va., also twenty-one grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren.

Funeral services were held on Sunday, January 16 in the Union Church at Brentsville by the Rev. Murry Taylor and Rev. T. K. Maubrey [Mowbray?]. Pallbearers were: P. J. Cooksey, Gene Davis, Raymond Davis, Grady Shoemaker, C. A. Sinclair and Haines [Hawes?] Davies.

Interment was made in the family cemetery at Brentsville, followed by a large crowd of relatives and friends with lovely floral tributes.

We shall sleep but not forever,
There will be a glorious dawn,
We shall wake to greet each other,
On that resurrection morn.

By his cousin,
MRS. A. B. MANUEL

Source: The Manassas Journal, Manassas, Prince William County, Virginia, 27 January 1944 (page 4, column 3)